Tis’ the season to be jolly: Series producer confirms no deaths in store for Downton Abbey this Christmas

But Trubridge promised it will still be packed full of excitement as she revealed it is the most ‘spectacular’ one yet.

‘It is packed full of story and it is without question the biggest episode we have ever done,’ she revealed. ‘it is the most spectacular, it’s not set at Christmas and we won’t be splitting up the family and the servants this time.’

The Christmas special will follow on from the cliffhangers of the fourth series’ finale, which airs this Sunday.

But it will also see the return of Shirley Maclaine as Cora’s mother Martha, and the arrival of Paul Giamatti as Cora’s playboy brother Harold.

‘It is lovely how happy Shirley was to come back and Paul is just a dream, you can’t take your eyes off him,’ Trubridge added.